The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1887-03-06
LETTER FROM NEW YORK.
The Passing Boodicrs-Thc Albany Lobby.
bridging the Hudson-rcrsonai Jottings.
fSpccial Corrcspondcncc.l

inc convicted took his fate with little grace.
ic pretended almost TO the last day before bis
rial was TO begin that he had not thought OF
employing any lawyer; hut II Is a matter within
ny personal knowledge that he paid out money
o men who gave him to understand that they
'oul1 drive the District Attorney into non.
prosecution Of the indictment by threatening
iim with newspaper attacks. Now, can read
ly understand that man with such little intelli.
yence as to believe that the newspapers could he
influenced by such persons as made him this
proposition to use the press In au attack ON tho |
District Attorney. might he idiot enough not TO |
engage counsel TO defend him until the eleventh |
hour. There are any number OF such idiots In |
New York, and the unscrupulous scamps who
prey upon them are ingenious, II they are not |
very numerous. II lie the old game Of selling /
"sawdust' for greenbacks, and the safety of |
the swindlers lies In the fact that the men they
rob arc silenced because they are confederatcs. |
O'Ncil undoubtedly fell into the hands Of some
OF those bunco' stcerers of the press. and is now
paying the penalty among other penaltics) OF
over-confdencc in the newspaper men who tell
you they own the paper. manage the editor. and
hold mortgage on the publisher. His threats
OF what he could do through the papers against
District Attorney MARITIME soon came to the lat
tcr's ears II only nngercd that official into a
more vigorous prosecution, and 0'Ncil was
thus worse OF than II he had never listened TO
the press people. Heaven save the markD
Alderman Cleary, now ON trial, Is being In
jured In the same degree and the same way by
injudicious yet strong and influential friends
lie is the janitor of the Equitable Life Assur-
ance Company. aud its president, Henry b.
Hyde, one Of the manifest Of noble and honor
able men, is firm aud constant friend of Mr.
~. ,V,I. T.
the attorneys Of the company. And these gen.
tlcmen come forward TO assist Mr.. Clcary IN his
troubles not only by contributing to his defense.
as they have an undoubted right TO do, and by
promising to testify in his behalf, but, through
Mr., Hyde, they give out to the public press that
they believe Mr.. Clcary TO be innocent, and that
they mean to defend and protect him. That
isn't what they publish, but that is the idea
which is conveyed to the public and to the
panel Of jurors from which twelve men are to
be selected 10 try Mr.. Ceary These twelve
men, from their examinations in court when be-
ing selected as jurors, get the impression that
there Is great corporation trying TO save Cleary
from the punishment he deserves for selling his
that the people are jealous people and suspi-
cious, and that II they find Mi Cleary innocent
as against the evidence, they will fall under
public suspicion. This fear-and the evidence
and Justice Barretts charge-are going to con-
vict Mr.. Cleary, and the Eguitablc'sh highly com
mendatory defense of its old servant Is going u
long way to bring about this inevitable result
After Mr.. Cleary's conviction there will be
no more long trials. The rest will skip" or
confess. Not one of them can escape exile or
the State S prison, and IT will be n serious
questioning with each Of them as 10 how he
may shorten his term. Exile is for life. and
some oi the exiles are weary already OF that
sort Of life. O'Nel gets off with three years
some of the other guilty creatures when Cleary
| goes up, that an open confession is good for a
considerable shortening OF their term Of i'm.
prisonmeut. Conviction is almost absolutely
certain in each case, and in those of Jacob
Sharp, James Richmond and Mr. Kerr, the
! famous "Blly' Molony will be witness for
the prosecution. What he will testify to is
already in the hands of the District Attorney.
He is satisfied that he has plenty of testimony
without that of Moloney to convict the Aldermen
necessary to deal gently with Mooney In order
to convict those accused of paying the bribcs.
Right upon the heels of these convictions of
.boodle" Aldermen, Chamberlain William NJ.
Wins comes out with a carefully prepared
statement, giving names and figures, showing
what it costs candidates to get into positions
where they can rake In the ''hoodle'' occasion.
ally. Some Of the figures are startling, and all
names given. II costs $4,000 to be elected tc
the S2,OOO-a-year Office of Alderman. When q
man wants to serve this city as an Assemblymar
at Albany on salary of $500 he must pay
s,i9 Tor the privilege, Our ,sle,ooo,a-yeal
when he first ran for oflice, in 1880. paid thai
amount, but in 1885 he got of with an expendi
ture OF only SIC, 600, because only one factor
nominated him: The present Mayor Abram $
Levitt, is said by, Mr.. Wins to have pal,
$4,000 to the two Democratic factions whicl
supported him; and the Mayor does not den,
1t. Hewitt and Grace can afford to pay fo
such luxuries, yet remain honest and conten
with the honors ~ of the office of Mayor; bu
,l,.a 4
men afford to pay such political assessments
Inc only rational answer can think Of is tina
they pay It with the deliberate intention I,
make money out of the positions.
They do not always succeed, however, and
am told by All experienced man that ther
never was at Albany ahungrier crowd than tina
which herds this year on the State House there
He says that In long experience he never say
such cheap lot of ofmedocrity in any Assembly
Until within few days there has been n
doodle in Albany. The Introduction Of til
High License bill has brought big sum fror
tho small liquor dealers and big beer brewers Il
this city, who hope to defeat the bill, Will
there Is money to be had from the hotel me-
, aud large bar-room proprictors to pass 1t. n
the Assemblymeu are little more cheerful
! But they had to resort to all sorts Of scheme
, until the High License measure was introduced
r One OF the most desperate schemes was the In
Poughkccpsie Bridge Company. This is
PENNSYLVANIA company with s5,00C,0OO whic
has undertaken to construct a eel-cantilevel
double-track bridge across the Hudson.
VIII be, with Its viaduct connections ON cac
shore over four miles In length. II will b
q higher above the water than the East Rive
5 Bridge between New York and BROOKLYN
c will make n direct all-rai route from Ne,
Z England to the Pennsylvania coal fields. an
o the traffic which the seven RAILWAYS that lay
agreed to make use oft will bring will amour
to thousands of freightcars each day. TIL
:. three piers which are located In the river ar
h, already above water, and work Is progressin
y with great rapidity, the whole to be complete
: this year. Yet, In spite Of the progress mad,
and the immense Importance to the State an
> TO commerce of this magnificent enterprise.
I bill is Introduced to repeal the charter an
q undo the work, because, Il is argued, the piei
e down the river In long tows. That's all Ia
g argument advanced, except one other tina
q the construction of three piers will narrow tli
channel. To this the company replies. by
statement from Gen. John Newton. to III
effect that the channel between any two of III
: piers is wider than the natural river at a poir
II a few miles below Poughkeepse. OF cors
o me company pays no attention to the bill
Is They know that Assemblymen cannot afford I
y vote Tor the repeal OF charter for so importal
= work, In which the people Of the whole Stat
are Interested and the matter il worth alludin
to only as an illustration Of the character ,
=. The present Assembly Of the great State Of Ne
- York. II looks H. II the time had come for Nj
II iNmn VI else 10 ftIDfl
- - such representatives into olscurity
~ was talking with Il wclinforncd GerIna
" on this subject, and he suggested that wise r.
" form OF our election method would be the eI
graftlng OF part Of the German system ON
ours. In Germany Majority Is necessary to a
T. election. When there are more than two cal
s. dida'es, aud no one has majority Of all III
n. votes cast, new election must take place. nn
~ the two candidates having the largest numb,
a Of votes at the trst election become the onl
h. candidates on the second trial, thus giving III
~ minority voters a chance 10 select as betwee
" the two leading meu. was curious enough I
calculate the effect which such system woul
have upon our present rulers. Mayor lIewi
was elected by a small plurality, but II a ne
election had followed as Between him and Hem
y George, the latter would, In all probabilit,
I, have been showed under, The complexion Of OF
n Senate and Assembly would have been great
d changed-nnd probably improved. And WI
~ will doubt that the second election would la,
y made Blaine Presldontf
g ] hear that Julian Hawthorne has sudden
lie severed with more or lcss violence his relation
ID with the New York lIOrid. lie has been I
II literary editor for come month back, aud WI
al telling friend u few days ago about the plea